St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-05


coats with bright gilt buttons, tall silk
hats. adorned with velvet bands, and
dOgskin gloves of size not usually found
in the ordinary shops. The first time that
the club men see them they invaria-
bly, turn around to look at their fair
proportions. and they see spread upon
their broad backs in golden letters the
advertisement of a well-knOwn Broad
way firm of clothierS. The two men in
question are German giants. The story
of theiS present employment is briefly
this: They arrived at Castle Garden
one fine morning about three weeks
ago, and the reporters who are sta
toned at Castle Garden did not fail, of
course, to notice them and comment on
their extreme height as soon as they set
their unusually large feet on American
soil. Interesting paragraphs about the
new arrivals were duly read at the
breakfast tables of New York the next
morning. One of the firm of tailors
mentioned above read the paragraph
and dispatched the chief clerk to the
other end of the city at once, and babe
him engage the giants at any price and
at all hazards. After spirited contest
with dime museum managers the men
were engaged.
During the war there were number
of regiments formed composed entirely
CT men six feet and over in height. A
company from Maine was composed of
lumbermen who were Of immense stat
ure and presumably of limitleSS
strength, but when they got down to
business and were subjected to the
forced marches. the insufficient food
and irregular sleep and other hardshipS
which the five-fOOt eight-inch soldier
accepts as matter of course and makes
no account of it, the broke down COM
pletely. had to be sent to the rear, and
the hospitals were full of them.
THE SOCIETY OF TITANS
here is company of very big men liv-
ing in New York and other of the chief
cities in the Union, who meet two or
three times year for the purpose of
dining and exchanging stories and rem
iniscences about themselves and other
big 'uns. A man must be at
least six feet two inches in height
in order that he shall be eligible
to membership. The list of members
Alfred Wagstatf. James j. Farley, Dr..
Hammond, IngersOll, Lockwood and
Col. Knox. Mr.. Hammond estimates
that there are in New York about 700
men who belong TO the well-to-do class,
and who are either lawyers or profess
sional men of some kind or merchants,
over feet 2 inches in height. The din
nerS are usually given at the Hotel
Brunswick during the winter, and at
some neighbOring seaside resort like
Manhattan Beach during the summer.
Jonn Seton, the wOnderfully-bigc OlOred
man who, in the daytime, may be seen
roaming about the wonderfully-big cor
ridOrs of the WOnderfully-big Equitable
building, is the dOorkeeper and cup
bearer of the society.
No trampS are probably to be found
who are over six feet two inches in
height, the limit set by the Society of
Titans. 1t is very rare indeed to see a
large man who is Shabbily dressed.
Here in New York, Supt. Kennedy
about twenty-five years ago conceived
the idea of Broadway squad wherein
no man could be under six feet i'll
height. This organization alone
opened the door for the big men around
town who wanted employment. Of
course there have always been dime
museum managers around the country,
there are about 1900 of them now and
each of them wants big man. Then
every dry goods store on Broadway or
Sixth avenue wants giant to parade
before the establishment and open the
doors of the carriages which dash up to
the curb and escort the ladies from the
carriage to the entrance door. The de-
mand for large men seems absolutely
inexhaustible and the supply is compar-
atively limited.
THE REASON
why big men are always in demand,
even outside the dime museums. is not
far to seek. In the first place they are
undoubtedly highly ornamental and an
aggregation of them looks exceedingly
well. Frederick the Greats regiment
of 'ritanS did not. perhaps. accomplish
much on the field of battle, but they
were very impressive and splendid on
parade, and there are more paradeS, as
a general thing, than there are battles.
OF course Capt. Kennedy has left no
record of what his idea was in securing
big men when he organized the
reasons probably was that with a
company of these magnificently pro-
portioned fellows he would have
feature in his annual turnout which
would impress the prominent men who
inspect these police professions and eX-
cite favorable comment. In short,
everybody who deals in big men prob
ably deals in them for the same reason
that they deal in bric-a-brac and other
attractive objects, because they add a
picturesque quality of life, and i'll the
case Of business enterprise command
public attention in such way that the
exhibition is valuable for advertising
purposes. Then, of course, these big men
look formidable, whether they are
so or not. 1t is certainly mag
nifcent sight to see one of these
gigantic policemen standing in the mid
die of Broadway with vehicles crowding
around him, drivers watching him re-
spectfully and he towering above the
surrounding noise and hustle like a
lighthouse midst the roaring waves, and
it is certainly very amusing to see the
big man at the Equitable building walk
ing along with very small clerk
through the long corridor, guarding the
clerk in the possession of small tin
box containing all kinds of valuable Sc
curities, which he is carrying from the
brokers Office in the neighbOrhOOd to
the safe depOSit vaults on Broadway.